Psalm 131:1-3 • Dax Palmer

Man, it feels good to be back. I have never been to a high school reunion, but it feels like it today. Man, I can't believe it's already been a year and some change since I have been commissioned to help serve Reconciliation Church.

But before we get started, I just want to thank you all collectively as a church for your support—financial support, and also those of you who support me individually. If I could, and if you're not getting my emails, please reach out to me because I would love to update y'all on what we have been doing at Reconciliation Church.

But most importantly, what trumps any work that I have done at Reconciliation Church is when I preached a few weeks ago and my daughter was up there and she read the Bible before I got up to preach. And it was in that moment that I realized that God has broken the generational curse in my family. So it's because of you all, and it's because of the support that you all have given to my family that I was able to witness that. So thank you all for that.

I'm not going to keep you all long this morning. I had strict orders to keep it under a certain time limit, so I will follow the rules of the land. But it's only a few verses. We're going to be in Psalms 131, and I know if God could create the world with one word, he could stir your hearts with these three verses. So I pray that he does that.

Let's pray right now.

Lord, I want to thank you for the opportunity that you have given us to come here and hear your voice, Lord God. We understand that you are here in this space at this exact moment, and this moment is made holy because of you. So, Lord, we take off the sandals of our heart and we stand here open waiting to hear from you. Lord, move me out the way and let you speak to your people. In Jesus' name, amen.

The Hope Behind the Question

Alright. Now in the ninety-four years of the Oscars, there's only been two people that have won back-to-back awards. One of them is a person named Spencer Tracy, but the other one is a more familiar person. He goes by the name of Tom Hanks.

Now in the nineties, Tom Hanks was a real popular person, and he had two particular movies that sparked interest and curiosity. One of those movies was called Philadelphia, in which the AIDS epidemic had just blown through the eighties and nineties, and there was a movie where he played as a lawyer who got AIDS and ended up suing his own job because they had fired him. The second movie is one that's more familiar and is called Forrest Gump.

Now Forrest Gump was an interesting movie because Forrest was an interesting person because in the midst of everything, you will always see a forest running to give people hope. And he would use sayings about his mother. "My mother always said this. My mother always said that." But there's one particular verse that he says that everybody caught on to in the nineties, and it was this:

"My mother said, life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

And he's right because life is like a box of chocolates. Some of them chocolates are good. Some of those chocolates, I don't understand why they put it in there. But here's the thing. We have two options. One option is to chew it. You don't like it, you hurry up and get it over with and eat it. The other option is to spit it out.

But life is not like a box of chocolate because when you get the chocolate of depression, you just can't spit it out. When you get the chocolate of job loss, divorce, or even death, you have to deal with it. And sadly, those that feel like they can't deal with it end up taking their life.

Last year alone, nearly five hundred thousand people committed suicide. That's roughly a hundred and thirty-five people a day, and Christians are not immune to this. In fact, just last week, a pastor was found with a self-inflicted wound in the forest. Christians aren't immune to this.

Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy

We have to take that seriously and not lightly. But the question is: If the people of hope feel like there's hopelessness, is there any hope for us? I would argue yes. There is hope for us. There is hope for the hopeless.

But today, we will read from what is known as the Psalms of Ascent—Pilgrim songs. And in these Psalms of Ascent—also known as a collection of Psalms that the Jewish people used to sing together on the way to the mountain for the three festivities, which are the Passover, Pentecost, and the Tabernacle—Psalm 131 is from a collection of Psalms that kind of group together.

Psalm 129 is labeled the Pilgrim's Affliction—the persecution of God's people. Psalm 130 is the Pilgrim's Confession—a cry for attentiveness. And our Psalm today is Psalm 131, which is the Pilgrim's Hope.

Because as long as we are in this world, as long as we are breathing, we are in need of hope. Charles Spurgeon once said this in regards to Psalm 131: "It is one of the shortest Psalms to read, but one of the longest to learn." So today, my hope and my goal is for us to begin this long journey of Psalm 131.

I'm going to read the Psalm. Y'all could just follow along.

Lord, my heart is not proud. My eyes are not haughty. I do not get involved with things too great or too wonderful for me. Instead, I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with his mother. My soul is like a weaned child. Oh, Israel. Oh, CTK. Put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore. — Psalm 131:1-3

For those that are taking notes, my main point today is hope for the hopeless, and we have three points. The person of hope—and once we meet that person of hope, we have to get into a certain position of hope. And then lastly is perpetuity, the everlasting hope, which is found in Christ.

The Person of Hope

The first words that come out of the Psalm is, "Oh Lord." Now think about that. David, who was the author of the Psalm, many of you know, he was a shepherd boy. When God tore the kingdom from Saul, Samuel was sent to the house of Jesse to find this next king. What ends up happening is Jesse brings out all his boys, and Samuel says, "Nope. God says, nope. Nope. Nope. Nope." And then finally, Samuel says, "Is there another one?" Jesse says, "Yes, but it cannot be him. It's David. He's back there shepherding the sheep." And so Samuel goes out there and finds David and he anoints David. He said, "This day, you will become king." And from that day forward, the spirit of the Lord came and rested on David.

David did really good things. He defeated Goliath, gave encouragement to the people of Israel. He united the twelve tribes of Israel. He had wealth, power. He was the captain of the army. But we all know that David has some negative qualities. He was a murderer, an adulterer, and a lot of other things. And here's the thing: God said that David was a man after his own heart, and that used to confuse me because let's be honest, David did some horrendous things.

But then I realized that David always confessed his sin before God, and David never forgot help came from the Lord. David's life is on display to give us an example—not of how we should live, but of how faithful God is to us. Because through the Psalms, you could see David would sin and repent, sin and repent, sin and repent all the way until death. And we're like that also, because sometimes there are seasons in life where we operate like we don't believe in God. We get a little off track, and we see this constantly in the life of David.

That's why towards the end of his life, David could say:

I have been young and now I'm old, but I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his children begging for bread. — Psalm 37:25

So the first words that come out of David's mouth is, "Oh Lord. My Lord." This was the guy that had means, but yet he knew that he was not the author of his victories. He knew that he was not the source of his peace. He knew that he was not the person that people thought he was. No. He was the beneficiary of grace just like us today.

"Oh Lord," in the time of pain. Let me ask you all: who do you call out to in your time of hopelessness? Is it your friend, spouse, parents? Who is this person that you call out to?

But let's examine this word "Lord" because David is proclaiming the name of Jehovah. He is trying to expand our minds beyond capacity. Jehovah, Yahweh—in the Hebrew, means "self-existing one." Now let's think about that. Because if you are giving up your life to follow this being, I want you all to understand who this being is. Self-existing.

We put our hope in people, but we are not self-existing. We need water. We need food to survive. Sometimes we put our hope in water, but water has certain elements. It's not self-existing to stay water. We rely on oxygen. Oxygen has certain molecules that it needs to become oxygen. Some people look to our universe. The sun is not self-existing. It has certain molecules and gases that it needs to stay at one. Even throughout the universe, there's something called dark matter that has components to it that keeps everything together. We have billions and billions of galaxies that are reliant on each other. All these things are dependent on each other.

And trying to figure out the origin of life is confusing to some scientists and some people because they're trying to figure out when does life begin. But I just want to take them to Genesis 1 and show them:

In the beginning, God created. — Genesis 1:1

Psalm 8 says this:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? — Psalm 8:3-4

Thousands of years later, this self-existing one became flesh.

John says this:

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning through him. All things were made and without him, nothing that was made has been made. — John 1:1-3

You see, that same confidence that David has, we can have that same confidence. A matter of fact, I believe we can have even more confidence than David because we know his name, don't we? Jesus. But I believe that God is able to understand us more than David did at that time. Hear me out.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to the confession for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. But one who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time. — Hebrews 4:14-16

Just think about that for a minute. God became human. The self-existing one became non-self-existing. The independent became dependent. The king and the creator of the universe became a baby born in a poor family under oppression. And here's the kicker, he chose that life. Why?

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. — John 3:16

God gave his son. Jesus gave his life for his enemies.

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. — Romans 5:8

But how do we respond as a people to this great thing that God has done? How do we typically respond? We treat coming to church as an option. We treat prayer as an option. We treat Bible reading as an option. All these things as options rather than seeing this as a privilege. And I love that song: "We will never know how much it cost to see our sins upon that cross."

See, life without God is so bad that he would rather suffer and die in our place so that we do not have to experience that. And because David knew this, because he knew who he was talking to—the king of all the universe—this king had to bow down to the King of Kings. He understands that he just can't approach this king any type of way, so he has positioned his heart, positioned his mind in a certain way so he could be acceptable to the king.

Position: Access to Hope

First thing he says is, "Lord, my heart is not lifted up." Because he understands the danger of pride. You see, you could be proud of your accomplishments and you could take pride in what you do. But the question is, who are you thanking at the end of that? God or are you thanking yourself?

The Lord detests all the pride of heart. Be sure of this, they will not go unpunished. — Proverbs 11:2

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before the fall. — Proverbs 16:18

Even though David had all the successful military campaigns, king throughout Israel, had all this stuff—perfect recipe for pride—but yet he knows that pride tries to steal from God. Because we all know that you can't take nothing from God, but pride tries.

But I want you all to think about this. Let me make it more applicable to you all. Imagine that you have a friend who is about to become homeless, and you have all the means. And you're like, "You know what? To help you get on your feet, I have an old family house out in the country. I have books. I have money, whatever it is. Go out there, get yourself together, and you know what? It's on you."

So six months later, you see this person on TV, and they're interviewing this person. And this person is saying, "Yeah, I fell off, but I got myself together. I read a few books. I had some money. I created this great product."

And you're watching this. You're like, this is interesting. Let me go by my family house and see what this person is talking about. So you walk to the house and you try to walk in, then you realize the doors are locked. And not only that, but that person in the house opens the window and asks, "Can I help you?"

Friends, God gave us breath. God gave us creativity. God gave us the ability to function, the ability to move, to work so we can provide for ourselves and others. And yet, when was the last time that you had thanked God for what you have?

See, we don't lock the door, we just don't read our Bible. We don't lock the door, we just don't pray. We don't lock the door, we just don't show up for church. The only antidote, the only cure for pride is a heart of thankfulness.

Next, he says this: "My eyes are not raised too high." And this is his relationship to people. And it's funny because Christians, we seem to think that we are immune to looking down at people. We call them sin sniffing, right?

Because we are people of faith, it seems that it gives us a pass to look down at people. At least I'm not like her, and that's talking about the person right next to you. I'm not even gonna get started on how we view people outside the church. But if you look at Jesus, he engaged the outsiders, invited them, loved them. It was people within the Jewish religion that Jesus often challenged.

And we see this in Luke 18, and I'm going to do some word changes here. So don't call me a heretic. I just want you to get the same feeling that these Jewish listeners would have felt when Jesus was telling this parable.

Luke 18 says this: Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else. He says, two men went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee—but I'm going to substitute that for Christian—and the other was a politician, substitute that for tax collector. The Christian stood by himself and prayed this prayer: I thank you, God, that I am not like other people. Cheaters, sinners, adulterers, and I'm certainly not like that politician over there. I fast twice a week. I give you a tenth of my income. But the politician stood at a distance and dared not even lift up his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow saying, oh God, be merciful to me. I am a sinner. I tell you, this sinner, not the Christian, returned home justified before God. Why? For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. — Luke 18

How can Dax do that? Why did he substitute like that? Listen, just because everybody calls herself a Christian does not make her a Christian. And just like back in the day, everybody who claimed to be a follower of God was not truly a follower of God. But what right do we have to look down on other people or even judge other people?

Paul said this: This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. — 1 Timothy 1:15

See, instead of looking down or looking at the log in other people's eyes and passing judgment on them, we need to pray to God, forgive them because they know not what they do. Lord, I pray that they know you. We have to remember this: we never chose God. God chose us. And it's by grace that we have been saved, not by works, so no one could boast.

Trust Over Fear

Third, he says this: I do not occupy myself with things too great or too marvelous for me. And this is a challenge for me because oftentimes I get caught up with the unknown, which causes me to fear. Fear of losing my job, fear of not being able to provide for my family, fear of my child not coming to faith, fear of what tomorrow will bring.

And even right now, I work at the church. I administer to people, encourage people, and I will be lying if I told you I will reach my fundraising goal. And the problem with fear is that it can lead us to do things that can be harmful. We might fear that our child might grow up to become something that we dislike, so we box them in to try to protect them, which isn't causing more harm than good. We fear that our spouse might cheat, so we are constantly mad at them. We fear that we might lose our jobs, so we work overtime to prove our worth to that company at the cost of our family. And some of us, we fear that grace is not sufficient, so we must work harder for God.

Friend, there's nothing in life that we control except how we respond to life. And our response should be trust in God. He's all knowing. We are not. He is sovereign over everything. We are not. God is all powerful and we are not. So my question to you is: if God is all these things that we are not, can we put our trust in him? I would say yes.

But David says this in response. He says: but I have calmed and quieted my soul. So instead of choosing to respond to these things in a type of way, he has quieted his soul. Instead of having a prideful heart, instead of looking down on people, instead of worrying about tomorrow, he says, I have chosen to be like a weaned child.

And one of the things I appreciate about David is his appreciation for life. Because when was the last time that you thought about a weaned child? David was really in touch with himself. Because with a weaned child, within the first hour of birth, the baby is introduced to milk. And from that time to at least six months, all the baby knows is that thing in that bottle gives me the satisfaction that I need. But there comes a time when milk no longer gives that child the nutritional value that their bodies need to continue to develop. The baby doesn't know that, but the parent or the caregiver knows when it's time. So they slowly transition the child from milk to solid food, and during that time in weaning, the baby eats solid food, but it still reaches for that bottle for comfort.

And some of us, to help wean them off the bottle, introduce the pacifier to help wean them off. But it turns out it's harder to wean them off the pacifier than the bottle. Friends, since we have been born again in Christ, God has been weaning us from this world.

The world has some mental and physical benefits such as love, community, beauty. But it has also given us some unhealthy desires—greed, envy, pride, lust. I could go on and on. But here's the thing: the longer we are being nurtured from the world, we are missing out on our true need, which is spiritual revival.

Matter of fact, just like the movie, I believe we are the walking dead. If we are not born again in Christ, we are just walking corpse. But don't blame me. The Bible says that we are dead in our trespasses. We have no life. Why? Because ever since sin entered the world, the things of the world have been our pacifier. You know what that thing is? But what turns out is that thing has produced a hunger in us that we always seek to satisfy. It's just like candy. It tastes good, but it has no nutritional value. So we keep jumping from one thing to another trying to fill a desire that only God could fill.

See, God is weaning us from the world, but we keep reaching back because since our birth, it's those things that have given us comfort. It's those things that have given us safety. It's those things that have given us joy. It's those things that give us security. But those things can never satisfy nor fulfill nor protect us.

So my question to you is: What is God weaning you from that you keep reaching back to? What lie are you believing? Do you believe money gives you safety and security? Do you believe pornography gives you satisfaction? Do you believe getting drunk or substance abuse is easing the pain?

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised. — Romans 1:25-26

And again, I ask you: What lie are you believing? I'll be the first to tell you that you are not alone. Even working in a church, there are still lies that I believe.

Paul, he says this:

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Has anybody been there? So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. — Romans 7:14-25

It is through Jesus that we become a weaned child and not a weaning child. It's because of Jesus that we have access to the Father. So when hurt comes, when pain comes, when confusion and chaos come, you can rest because you are in the comfort of your Father.

You know, even as a father myself, there have been times when my kids were in scary situations, so they call me. And I walk in, and you could see the relief on their face when I come in their room or engage in that conversation or whatever it may be. But little do they know that at times, Dad is just as scared as they are. But because they are dependent on me, I will eat my fear and sacrifice myself for them.

But the Creator of the universe is our Father.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by whom we cry, "Abba, Father." — Romans 8:15

We Have an Everlasting Hope

Because of Christ, our hope is forever. Oh, Israel, David says:

Hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. — Psalm 131:3

When the precious blood of our Savior was spilled out, not only did He give us access to God, but He gave us an everlasting hope, bringing us in, adopting us, and giving us a new life. We have been born again.

See, when Adam took a bite of that fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, it wasn't just separation from God. It wasn't just entering the world. No. The law of God has been broken, and someone has to pay the price. And this is what some theologians call the cosmic treason. And the only One that could pay a debt so big, so grand is God Himself. Because no ordinary blood can satisfy the requirement.

We witnessed this in the Old Testament when they sacrificed sheep, goats, and birds. The point of this was not to satisfy God, but to remind ourselves that we are a sinful people. There's coming a time when all sin will be forgiven through the blood of Christ.

This savior, knowing he was born to die, told his disciples that he must die. They said no. He said, it is better that I go. Why? Because I will send the comforter. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes in and lives with us. He prays with us. He cries with us. He laughs with us, and more than anything else, he glorifies Christ in our lives.

But not only this—Ephesians says that the Holy Spirit is the down payment for our inheritance until the redemption of the possession to the praise of his glory. He is the assurance of our hope. Some of you are like, "Dax, where's the evidence? I don't feel like the Holy Spirit is in my life." Well, let me tell you this: after all the stuff—because nobody has a perfect life—after all the stuff that went down in your life, after all the hardships, all the times you feel like turning away, all the heartaches that you felt in the world and in the church, it was the Holy Spirit that keeps the blood of Christ running in your veins that walks you through these doors. This is why I keep raising my hands. This is why I love to sing songs about Jesus, because I am assured that my Savior lives.

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, also believe in me. — John 14:1

The same way that we believe in God, Jesus is essentially saying, believe in me the same way, making himself equal with God. He says:

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take myself, that where I am, you may be also. — John 14:2-3

You know the way to where I'm going. Thomas said, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him:

I am the way and the truth and the life. — John 14:6

Christians, don't give up. Don't lose hope. God is our source of hope in this life, and he promised that he is preparing a place for us. Is there hope for the hopeless?

As we come to a close, you know, I believe that I could have been a good actor. And if I was in the movie Forrest Gump and I was sitting on that bench and Forrest walked up to me, like, "Hey, Dax." I was like, "Hey, Forrest. What's going on?" He said, "Dax, you know, life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." I'm like, "Forrest, you know, you're right. Life is like a box of chocolates, but my Father makes the chocolate. And I know that whatever is in this box, whatever I taste, I know I had to go through his hands before it entered my mouth so I could trust and believe that my God is with me." Amen.

Lord, I want to thank you for the hope that you have given us in Christ. Lord, we know that the hope you have given us is an everlasting hope. I pray that we do not take that lightly. For you are a God who looks down on pride but gives grace to the humble. So I pray today that we do not leave the same and that you continue to work in our hearts to bring the life that you have given us until the glory of your marvelous name. Amen.